150 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OP THE FISHERIES. 



is used as mucilage, as cement for broken crockery or wood work, in the manufacture of furniture, 

 carriages, straw goods, floor oil cloths, and in many other ways. 



Fish skins have been put to some other uses than the manufacture of glue or guano. The 

 skins of cusk have been made into boots at Gloucester and the article patented, but it is doubt- 

 ful whether the business will ever become profitable. Dogfish skins being rough like sand-paper 

 or emery paper have been used by the fishermen to shine their mackerel jigs. In all parts of the 

 world, experiments have been made with skins of different kinds of fish and they have been put to a 

 variety of uses. Some very good looking gloves were made at Berlin in 1880, from the skins of 

 cusk and codfish sent from Gloucester. 



THE FISH-OIL INDTJSTBY. Fish oils are prepared at Gloucester from the livers of cod, hake, 

 haddock, pollock, and dogfish, and from the heads of halibut. There are five fish-oil makers here 

 with a capital of $105,300 and employing 50 men. The value of the product of these factories, in 

 the census year, was $129,100. 



On the cod- vessels fishing on the Grand and Western Banks, it is the common custom to have 

 some large casks called "blubber butts" lashed upon deck just forward of the cabin. In the bilge 

 of each cask is cut a square hole through which the livers are dropped into the cask and allowed to 

 remain, until by the heat of the sun they are putrefied. The oil that exudes and floats upon the 

 surface is skimmed off and stowed in barrels while the mass of refuse blubber is allowed to remain 

 until the vessel arrives home, when it is boiled to extract the oil that may remain. George's-men 

 and shore cod fishermen save the livers in a fresh condition and sell them direct to the oil mer- 

 chants at so much a bucket or gallon. An average quantity of livers for 100,000 pounds of split 

 fish is 450 gallons, valued at from 10 to 15 cents per gallon, according to their freshness. 



A bucket of cod livers, holding about 2J gallons, yields 1 gallon of medicinal oil, valued, 

 when refined, at about 70 cents a gallon. In manufacturing medicinal oil, the livers are chopped 

 up in small pieces, and then cooked by steam in tanks. The oil thus cooked out is put in 5-gallon 

 cans and, packed in a large trough with ice and salt, is allowed to remain for about twelve 

 hours to chill and granulate. The granulated oil is then quite thick, and is put in bags and sub- 

 mitted to a heavy pressure. Oil produced by this pressing is " bright," and will not congeal at 30 

 temperature. What is left in the bags is a sort of tallow, and is used by tanners, being sold at 

 about C cents a pound. The oil weighs about 1\ pounds to a gallon, and varies in value according 

 to the demand, ranging from 50 to 75 cents per gallon. After the oil is taken from the cooking 

 tanks, a brownish substance remains, that is used in the manufacture of fertilizers. 



The principal oil manufacturer in Gloucester annually makes from 1,000 to 1,500 barrels of 

 medicinal or cod-liver oil, which is sent to all parts of the United States. The practice of chopping 

 the livers has been in use but a few years, and it is claimed that more oil can thus be obtained 

 from a quantity of livers than was formerly obtained by cooking them whole. 



Tanner's oil is made from the crude oil and blubber brought home by the Grand and Western 

 bankers, and from livers that are not fresh enough for making medicinal oil. It is worth from 40 

 to 50 cents per gallon. 



The livers of dogfish and sharks are specially rich in quantity of oil, and these fish are some- 

 times taken for the sake of their livers, the bodies being cast aside as of no value. Dogfish are 

 oftentimes very abundant in the spring of the year, when considerable quantities are taken by the 

 shore fishermen, as well as by vessels on George's Banks, though by the fishermen who are in 

 search of cod the dogfish are counted as annoying as thieves, stealing not only bait from their 

 hooks, but the fish as well. George's-men are therefore not at all anxious to meet schools of 

 dogfish, and frequently change their fishing ground at the approach of these scavengers. 



